WalkingStick Bass

[Rayzcane]

Has anyone seen this Kona WalkingStick 3 (or 4) string fretless bass?

It uses monofilament strings and piezo pickups which "delivers a rich and pleasing, acoustic bass sound."

The scale length is 37 inches....... It can be tuned to Open G or to standard bass tuning.

You can see some videos here:

http://www.konaweb.com/stick/

Would "fretless" work for tapping or do we need those frets?

Ray Langley

[jamsire]

From what I know - there are people who have one side of their tapping instrument fretless.

Not my thing - and I have two fretless nylon string guitars (one of them an 11-string).

I like my Meggys with the frets. Especially when they're fanned.

[rjgoos]

I'm surprised they haven't been called on the carpet for using someone else' trademark.

Changing the subject: I'll put in a plug (again) for Dennis Havlena's web site:

http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/

Winters must be long on the Upper Penninsula of Michigan....Dennis has come up with dozens of funky home-made instruments. His Doodle Bass (the closest thing to the instrument Ray links us to) uses monofilament weed whacker line. I hacked one out for skit for a retirement party for a friend, and it didn't sound all that bad.

But anyhow, Dennis offers a CD for something like $10, post-paid, and it is a riot.....make a tinwhistle out of a hunk of copper pipe, make a kalimba or mbirra using bobbie pins or tines out of a leaf rake, make a hammered dulcimer with conduit pipe....all sorts of really eccentric projects (which, of course, appeals to me). Good winter project fun.


Jay

[Rayzcane]

Hi Jay,

They probably avoid the trademark issue by calling it a "Walkingstick" (one word).

Havlena's site is great! I just ordered the CD. Thanks for the link.

If anyone knows of any site that has info or plans on how to convert a recorder to a chalumeaux, please let me know. This instrument is basically a recorder with a saxophone reed mouthpiece.....

Ray

[Utmotrix]

I built one last summer after getting Dennis's Cd.
Got a $2 piezo from radio shack - hardest thing to find was the correct weed-whacker gauges. Sounds cool.

I've seen the Kona Walkingbass also. I'm going to build something similar once the weather gets a little warmer - going to use LaBella Deeptalkers. I think the WalkingStick guy uses some type of rubber strings.

I have an 8 foot piece of mahogany just waiting....
Going to be tuned BEAD. It'll be PHAT.